Great post and thread. S & F. I would have thought the numbers where higher than that.
I mean going by the news. Think death by prescription drugs has already passed death by car accident which used to be the number one cause of death in
America.

1 in 66?
Oh, it's a lot more than that, lol.
There are a lot more running about that aren't diagnosed than are. I have too thought about what would happen if that drugs all of a sudden stopped
for some reason (like a SHTF scenario). About 72 hours after the last dose life will get interesting for sure.
This is definitely food for thought...forget the Social Work degree - I'm going for a degree in Chemistry with an emphasis on natural pharmacology

I know how to get people to be nice to me

Another thing...for all the training that today's medical personnel have, VERY FEW have any pharmacological training/experience that focuses on
natural preparations. Nor do they seem to be trained to work without the benefit of medical technology..in a REALLY BAD situation they would be for
all practical purposes, nearly useless.

I'm a fan of B vitamins. However, B complex vitamin pills seem to be imbalanced or have important omissions.

I totally agree, proper nutrition is key.
I really noticed a difference when I stopped consuming all the microwavable stuff....no telling whats in that crap.
But you gotta admit, in an exigent situation (ie., a SHTF) knowing a little herb magic may be good to calm people down in the absence of plentiful and
proper nutrition and those awful medications (I detest the FDA/Pharma).
As far as the drugs that they prescribe it will behoove people to get online and find out about the drug that was prescribed. I have refused to take
certain drugs because of the benefit-to-risk ratio...not a whole lot of benefit but plenty of risk.

If true, one in sixty-six is a disturbing number, to say the least. But why is it so high? I wonder about the figures in other Western states. I doubt
they are as high. Sometimes it seems like Americans have this unique obsession with "fixing" psychological ailments that, often, don't even exist, as
though it is unheard of for a person not to have a mental illness, and we approach a situation where psychosis is the norm. There is this strange
obsession with overanalysing the psyche, a readiness to diagnose mental disturbances and then arbitrarily prescribe huge quantities of unnecessary
psychomedication for a quick fix; or am I being harsh? And to be honest, we here in the UK are getting that way. The number of children being
diagnosed with ADHD is skyrocketing. In my line of work I meet a lot of them. I would say that the vast majority of them do not have some mental
problem. Couple poor parenting with a school system stripped of the means to discipline children--and no, I am not even talking about corporal
punishment--and you end up with ill-behaved runts who simply don't give a damn about respecting anybody.

I don't think "mental illness" per se is on the rise. I think we, in the West, are simply getting lazier and lazier, and slowly losing all sense of
self-responsibility.

Originally posted by Maskirovka
If true, one in sixty-six is a disturbing number, to say the least. But why is it so high? I wonder about the figures in other Western states. I doubt
they are as high. Sometimes it seems like Americans have this unique obsession with "fixing" psychological ailments that, often, don't even exist,
as though it is unheard of for a person not to have a mental illness, and we approach a situation where psychosis is the norm. There is this strange
obsession with overanalysing the psyche, a readiness to diagnose mental disturbances and then arbitrarily prescribe huge quantities of unnecessary
psychomedication for a quick fix; or am I being harsh? And to be honest, we here in the UK are getting that way. The number of children being
diagnosed with ADHD is skyrocketing. In my line of work I meet a lot of them. I would say that the vast majority of them do not have some mental
problem. Couple poor parenting with a school system stripped of the means to discipline children--and no, I am not even talking about corporal
punishment--and you end up with ill-behaved runts who simply don't give a damn about respecting anybody.

I don't think "mental illness" per se is on the rise. I think we, in the West, are simply getting lazier and lazier, and slowly losing all sense of
self-responsibility.

Didn't want this to turn into a rant!

edit on 21-7-2011 by Maskirovka because: Grammar...

Good rant

What disturbs me is when they prescriibe meds for ADHD/Hyperactivity...I mean, kids are hyperactive by nature; they don't listen a lot of the time
and a parent has to repeat commands and keep the kid focused - this is normal behaviour for children, not a disease. Pharma in the US is creating a
future full of PharmaZombies.
For whatever reason I believe human beings are dysfunctional by nature (although we have the capacity to improve).
I don't know if it has to do with the fact that we are a relatively young species..or
The various pressures of living in human societies.. or
Having to deal with each other on a constant basis...but
Human beings, as a species, are crazy as hell.

It is simple, be nice to people.. If they attempt to hurt you or someone around you, harm them. If they act crazy all the time, commit them. After all
this is a 'study' none of us carried it out ourselves, stats can always be worked. Humans have been doing crazy # probably since they saw the day of
light.

oh and edit, if anything is to blame it is the meds. Most of the time even the creators of brain chemical altering medications do not know what the
pill actually does, only that enough participants checked yes enough for them to get some $$$$.

Outselling even common drugs to treat high blood pressure and acid reflux, antipsychotic medications are the single top-selling prescription drug in
the United States.

Once reserved for hard-core, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest type of mental illnesses to treat hallucinations, delusions or major thought disorders;
today, the drugs are handed out to unruly kids and absent minded elderly.

A recent story in Al Jazeera by James Ridgeway of Mother Jones illuminates the efforts by major pharmaceutical companies to get doctors prescribing
medicines like Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Abilify to patients for whom the drugs were never intended.

Focusing on psychiatrists because they rely on subjective diagnoses, the drug reps have been so successful that they've changed the criteria for
mental illness and disability payments. Ridgeway quotes former New England Journal of Medicine editor Marcia Angell.

From my experience, 1 in 66 is a very conservative estimate. More like 50-50 imo; and rest assured my self diagnosis has determined that my boots
aren't laced all the way to the top either. How's that for an obscure euphemism from the panhandle of Texas?

Anyway, the pharmaceutical industry has the American culture in its evil clutches by convincing Dr's to prescribe potent pills for basically nothing.
Especially the practice of prescribing Ritalin for over active kids and sedatives for geriatrics that won't quit talking; Hardcore speed for fat
people. It's obvious that people want immediate relief even from imagined maladies and the Doc's are all to happy to prescribe something; probably
because they are heavily invested in the manufacture of drugs.
Well that's my short rant against the big pharma and pill pushers. I'm so worked up now that I need a Valium.

How's that for an obscure euphemism from the panhandle of Texas?

I wouldn't be so proud. I have been to texas and 49% of those 50% live in texas. Oh look, now I have gone and "messed with texas".....wait nothing
happened. I'm still ok. texans are so arrogant and crazy that they actuallly believe that their slogans scare people into proper behavior. Seriously,
texans are the caziest people on earth, and i don't mean a cute, Hollywood crazy either. I am talking Norman bates/Ted Bundy crazy.

Originally posted by PaganArchangel this is normal behaviour for children, not a disease. Pharma in the US is creating a future full of
PharmaZombies.

Medicating the children is especially sick and sad.

I studied psychology in college. At the 3rd year, the teaching moved away from theory and towards diagnoses. It became clear to me that we were to
design tests to show anyone crazy so we can get the insurance money. I designed a simple test to show who was dangerously neurotic. My professor was
disturbed by it and gave me a zero. I can understand how the test made her uncomfortable and at a loss for words. She was obviously neurotic. My peers
in the course were mostly sociopaths. From what I've seen, the mental health profession is a scam. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Further breakdown of this would be fascinating. I would suspect that in a upper-middle class, country club, white community, the kind where moms
put on pressed white tennis dresses to hop in the range rover to get a gallon of milk, well over 50% of the people are on some form of medication.
Its almost expected. In their perfect lives, kids acting like kids upset the apple cart and they get tossed on them.

I would bet that more women than men (by a very long shot) are on them and that the number of men who are legally drunk on a daily basis in those
communities is in the majority.

No matter really. Who cares what someone does to their body if its not hurting anyone else?

Doctors today throw these drugs around like jelly beans. For most of these disorders, only a psychiatrist can accurately diagonse the disorder.
Your GP would never dream of perscribing medication for an irregular heart beat - he would send you to a cardiologist for that. Yet he is perfectly
comfortable putting you on med after med in different dosages and combinations when the problem has to do with your brain chemistry, in most cases
something he has not been schooled about in 10+ years.

Big Pharma makes big oil look like a lemonaid stand. At least the oil companies produce products that have legitimate purpose and they are honest
about what their products do and are for. They may not be honest about anything else, but the product has no mystery (well there is that whole
ethanol scam.......)

I would argue with the statistics presented in this finding. Since discharging and enrolling to finish a graduate's degree I have picked up a second
job helping to manage a pharmacy in the capital of this State. While I agree that the Pharmaceutical industry is a racket, along with the insurance
industry, anti-psychotics are not that prevalent. 1 out of every 200 to 250 prescriptions we fill are for anti-psychotics, and most of those aren't
for mental stability, but to aid in sleep.

I agree that people are "weak" and use RX drugs as a crutch when they really need to just "cowboy up" and work through their issues on their will
alone. I would be much more concerned about the exponentially rising use and reliance on amphetamine based drugs like Ritalin, Adderall and their
respective generics. These amphetamines are by-far-and-away more prevalent than anti-psychotics.

Dont do drugs kids...but seriously you will never catch me taking pills unless I'm in severe pain or I need antibiotics like for an infection of some
sort, stay away from that stuff it will fry your brain faster than crack coc aine lol

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